Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

At Tufts Medical Center's Comprehensive Spasticity and Movement Disorder Clinic, patients receive outstanding, personalized care from some of the area’s most experienced physiatrists in spasticity management. Each and every patient is evaluated by both a therapist trained in spasticity and one of our physician specialists in our downtown Boston office. Together, they develop a comprehensive treatment plan individualized for each patient.

A spasticity program that's unique in Greater Boston

Our top-rated program offers a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach to spasticity and movement disorders. Additionally, our program offers three of today’s most effective treatments for spasticity: Botox injection therapy, phenol nerve-block injection therapy, and intrathecal baclofen (ITB) pump placement and therapy, managed in conjunction with our colleagues in Neurosurgery at Tufts Medical Center.

Injection therapy can help patients better participate in physical and occupational therapy to gain strength, flexibility and the ability to work on everyday self-care skills. Such skills include the improved use of a limb and the attainment of more comfortable seating, as well as improvements in walking and transferring weight, wearing a brace and attending to hygiene.

After a stroke, disabling shoulder pain is common. We often treat this pain with targeted therapy accompanied by a shoulder steroid injection and a Botox injection to reduce the tightness in the spastic shoulder muscles. Our multidisciplinary team is specifically trained to manage this shoulder pain, which can interfere significantly with a patient's ability to participate in therapy.

Our program is led by Zach Bohart, MD, a board-certified physiatrist and an expert in spasticity management who has cared for thousands of patients with spasticity issues. Dr. Bohart specializes in helping to alleviate the physical and emotional pain that often accompanies spasticity so patients can lead more comfortable, confident and socially fulfilling lives.

Some of the other effective, non-surgical treatment options we offer include:

• Exercise programs
• Pharmacological management
• Bracing and splinting
• Therapeutic heat, cold and electrical stimulation

When a surgical treatment is prescribed, such as a tenotomy or a tendon lengthening procedure, the surgery is performed by our surgical colleagues in the Tufts Medical Center Orthopedic or Vascular Surgery departments.

Learn more about the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.